Sunday, October 20, 2013

No NaNo 4 Me

If you're looking for the Lucky 13 Blog Hop, read 13 Reasons to Love Halloween ... or it's one post down.


As October hits, it’s the hot question: “Are you going to NaNoWriMo?”


I’m even getting emails from “Your Novel” with the subject heading, “Please write me this November.”

Every year, I dutifully sign up, donate funds, go to write-ins and I get a lot done. But I never win.  Most often, I tend to write short. A full-length novel comes in at 50K. I’ve turned in 52K and had a copy editor suggest cuts in order to get it down to the required length. While writing, I usually “finish” at 45K and then edit, smoothing out transitions, flushing out descriptions and adding in those last 5K.

Some years, I’ve signed up knowing I was shooting for a 30K novella. Although I finished it, I still didn’t “win.” Well, officially. I completed the novella and got it published so that definitely counts for something, right?

I’ve met some local writers through the process, and had a blast hanging out with Kara Lennox, Rob Preece and Tari Lynn Jewett at IHOP and a local grocery store with our laptops. There’s nothing like 10 writers, clustered together working, without talking, garnering attention. People stared.

Why not this year? *shrugs shoulders* I fully support writers signing up, and working hard to complete their novel. I’m taking a realistic approach, and know I have three projects I’d like to finish in the next month:

1) The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf: A Wolfe in the City – The manuscript is about 47K right now, and it needs to be completed.

2) Second For Men for Ellora’s Cave: The Quickie is more than halfway done, and could be finished up within a week.

3) R&R for Decadent Publishing: Need to polish a few areas, and get it back in. It’s been on the burner for when the other two items were finished.

Plus, I have another 1Night Stand rattling around in my brain. With the recent release of A Dance with Death, this character is clamoring for a HEA.

So officially … no NaNo for me. I’ll be cheering on my friends, and you can send me some good thoughts for wrapping up my projects!

Louisa Bacio

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